Tell me when
by nipponophile
Summary: The first time he wanted to kiss her..and her response to his quid pro quo.
1. Tell me when

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor or Donna, but if I did, this would be part of their story._

**Tell me when**

She felt his hot breath in wordless caress on the side of her face and knew it would be a mere micro-second before…_there it was…_ that long, warm tongue was swirling around the shell of her ear, then ever so slowly making its way down her neck, where it was joined by soft lips, and the soundtrack of an ancient song in words she didn't comprehend but that none the less were completely, _completely_ distracting.

Admitting defeat, she put the book down on her lap.

"Okay, Spaceman, I get the message. Your oral fixation is bored again and needs attention."

"Mmhmm" the Doctor mumbled, continuing his ministrations to the curve of Donna's neck, bringing gentle nips into play, sending tingles all the way down to her nether regions, currently nestled under the bedcovers.

"That'd be, like, only, what the _tenth _time in the last hour."

The Doctor looked up momentarily, flashing his puppy dog eyes. "What, you're complaining?" he asked in mock hurt.

"Hardly" she replied with a slight smile, "but seriously, what has gotten into you tonight? You're even _more _amorous than usual".

He quirked an eyebrow. "And that's a problem because…."

"Who said it was a problem? Just curious, that's all" She reached up to touch her fingers to his moist lips, slightly parted in anticipation. I'm happy to give this mouth as much attention as it needs." She gave him a slow, deep kiss to prove it.

The Doctor verily purred with pleasure before resuming his gentle assault. "It's just that, you know…_kiss…._I'm here…_another kiss…_you're here…_more kisses…_ looking all come-hithery and _..he moved his mouth to her bare shoulder…_that skin of yours is so .._ooh, tongue kiss!..._soft and white and smelling divine…._kiss kiss kiss…._"

Donna let out an involuntary moan as she felt him change course, moving across and down. Into VERY dangerous territory.

And then, not quite believing what she was doing at that moment, she felt her hands brace gently against him, curiosity inexplicably trumping desire, as she pulled back and looked him squarely in the eyes.

He regarded her carefully, with the barest hint of trepidation. "Ohhhh, I know that look…. the Oncoming Question."

As if in confirmation, she ploughed straight in: "Well, it's like, you've got me wondering, just now…tell me, when was the very first time that you wanted to kiss me?"

Amused, she watched the Doctor turn crimson almost instantly, averting his gaze and umming and ahhing nervously "Weellllll….I'm not sure I remember so clearly…"

She narrowed her eyes at him ever so slightly. "And I know _that _look, your patented 'I'm trying to avoid answering the question because the answer is _really_ embarrassing' look, am I right?"

"Possibly" the Doctor squeaked out, "Could be…I mean, it was some time ago now.."

Realising that he had just inadvertently incriminated himself, she suddenly became even _more _interested in this line of questioning, angling her body closer so as to better watch him squirm as she continued probing him.

"Oh really? Some time ago, you say? Exactly _how_ long ago?" This game was getting fun.

"Ah, well, now that I think about it's hard to pinpoint the _precise_ moment, you see…." He rubbed his neck apprehensively.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Oh, you are SUCH a rubbish liar on this type of thing. You remember EXACTLY when! In fact, you can probably even recall what I was wearing at the time."

She didn't miss him closing his eyes, enraptured, for a second…_obviously remembering_ …..nor him mumbling "Oh yes. Would be impossible to forget…."

"See? See? I told you," her exclamation sounding a little more triumphant than she'd intended, "Let me guess…." she continued, before he could get a word in edgeways "…bet it was when I said yes to your second invitation to travel with you. I saw that look on your face when you didn't get a hug…obviously you were hoping for one…."

She paused a moment, as realisation began to dawn "Hang on, you'd just finished telling me that you only wanted 'a mate' but secretly you wanted a KISS as _well_ as a hug? What was that all about, then? Flippin' randy Martian!" She hit his arm lightly in mock-annoyance.

Ignoring her outburst, he gamely attempted to correct her misconception. "Ah, well, that actually, um, _wasn't_ the first time. And the 'mates' thing well, I know that's what I said, and I _kind_ of meant it, a little, at the time and anyway you seemed so offended by the thought of us being anything _else_, but then you were just, so happy for us to be travelling together again and you have _no idea_ how beautiful you are when you're happy like that so _naturally_ I wanted to kiss you…"

It was like she hadn't heard anything after the first part of his sentence.

"That _wasn't_ the first time?" she said, with genuine surprise. "It was _before_ then?"

"Yes, it…ah…was" the Doctor stammered out, his nervousness growing more palpable, "A _little_ before then…"

Her voice dripped suspicion. "How much is 'a little'?"

The Doctor, avoiding having to look directly at her, began babbling again. "Oh, not very much, not much time at all, just a blip in the grand scheme of things if you really think about it, you know, if you consider the whole, vast continuum that is time and space and…"

She smacked his arm again. "Shut up and out with it, you prawn".

He gulped, twice, his eyes flicking to hers than back down in rapid succession.

"Well, it was actually when we were in the TARDIS after you'd just found out that your husband-to-be was going to feed you to a giant spider and you were, quite understandably, upset, but I didn't know how to comfort you – _he looked at her with such sad eyes then_ - so I thought I'd try to distract you instead with something mind-blowingly incredible, like seeing the creation of the Earth."

He fixed his deep brown eyes on her, and Donna saw there the aching sincerity of what he felt for her, not just at that moment, but much further back, back when their story had only just started and she had been so angry and her world so small.

The Doctor went on, a fond smile underscoring his reminiscing. "Just the look of sheer wonder on your face…you were _shining_ and the light reflected in your eyes made them sparkle and …Donna, it was the first time even for me to visit this point in time, but I could barely bring myself to look at it, because I couldn't tear my eyes away from you. I realised then that I wanted to kiss you _so badly_ but I knew I'd be slapped."

Stubbornly refusing to react to his beautifully heartfelt honesty so as to retain the moral high ground, Donna attempted to suppress the tears that threatened by working up a measure of mild indignation. "Too right, Sunshine, we barely knew each other!"

His suddenly serious expression told her he saw right through her little charade and he leaned in, ghosting his lips across hers, setting off a delicious, growing quivering.

"I knew you enough though to know what you could become, who you could be, and even back then, it almost took my breath away."

Donna was speechless. _Tears are still too close…._

He adopted a more matter-of-fact tone.

"However, I will tell you that you were pretty close with your first answer which was actually the _third_ time I wanted to kiss you."

_Regaining composure, thank God. _"The second time being?"

"Storage cupboard, Adipose Industries. Oh, you were brilliant! But, of course, it wasn't really a good time, for kissage, seeing as how we were in the middle of trying to stop millions of people from turning into…."

"….flying fat" she finished for him, smiling.

In a flash, his mood returned to its earlier playfulness and he gave her one of his trademark gleeful grins.

"Good thing we got past all our reticence then, isn't it!" he said happily, smacking her full on the lips. "Wouldn't want to get slapped every time I did that!"

Donna couldn't help laughing. But her mirth quickly dissipated with what he said next.

"Now then," he began, turning to face her, propping himself up with one elbow and looking for all the world like he was settling in for a good, long story, "your turn to tell me when."


	2. And I'll tell you

_Disclaimer: If I owned them, this woulda happened._

**And I'll tell you**

_Argh, he was so infuriating sometimes!_

Donna hated being put on the spot, but that was exactly where she found herself, an expectant Doctor waiting, wide-eyed and almost quivering in anticipation to hear from her _exactly_ when it was that she had first 'come to her senses' and realised that he was completely and utterly irresistible and that she had wanted to kiss him.

_Is that smugness I can see creeping into that grin?_

She felt more annoyed by the fact that he almost _always_ knew when she was lying, especially about personal things like this, so she didn't even have the luxury of fudging, pushing back the time of epiphany far enough so as to knock that overly-healthy ego of his back down a few notches.

_Bloody exasperating Martian._

There was nothing for it, then, she had to bite the bullet and tell him. If she was lucky he might let her live down the embarrassment one day. One day a long way off. Perhaps somewhere between the 16th and 20th versions of New NewNewNew NewNew York…..

"Well, Donna, I'm…." he began, a touch impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your boxers in a twist, Timeboy, I've got to think about this one, it's not like it's something I contemplate on a daily basis".

He smiled at her as if to say _liar, liar pants on fire._

She felt herself blushing.

His expression softened then and he reached out his hand to stroke her cheek slowly and reverently, as if it were a precious treasure.

_Which, I guess, I am to him. _She suddenly felt warm and infinitely more relaxed and took in a slow, deep breath. _If I have to be embarrassed in front of anyone, best that it's someone I love. And who loves me._

She brought her hand to cover his, then moved to kiss his fingertips, gently nipping the middle finger.

Reflexively, he jerked back in surprise, but she flashed a smile at him, told him she was just playing. His eyelids lowered, calm again.

"Now I don't want you to get upset or read too much into it, but the first time I wanted to kiss you, I mean really, honest-to-God snog you was not quite the same as it was for you".

"I kind of figured that one out, you know, Donna, what with the semi-regular slapping every time I got too touchy-feely…" he acknowledged.

She ignored the chastisement. "But I think perhaps it wasn't when you're probably _thinking_ it was."

"Is that so?" he cocked an eyebrow inquisitively, unconvinced.

As she entered in to her explanation, Donna attempted to work up a bit of bluster to try to keep herself calm.

"Well, in case you were wondering, it _wasn't_ that time in the kitchen at Lady Eddison's house" she said "I mean, you'd just downed ginger beer, walnuts and a jar of anchovies, not exactly an invitation…"

"Wasn't wondering about that time," he said, the barest hint of a smile on his lips, his gaze unwavering.

She gulped slightly.

"Then again, I must admit it wasn't _entirely_ unpleasant. Despite the clashing condiments." She glanced at him guiltily. To his credit, he maintained his even expression.

"Then there was Messaline…." She continued.

"What, back in the TARDIS?" he asked.

"Well, duh, obviously then, yes, no points for guessing THAT one" she muttered, slightly miffed at him getting that one so easily.

"So, when I told you about my first family, then?"

"Yeah, that time too…" She could feel her face getting hotter.

He couldn't keep from smirking. "Donna, you have thought about this quite a _lot_, haven't you", the amusement ringing in his voice.

"Don't flatter yourself, Mr All-the-good-ones-are-Time-Lords" she muttered crossly. "But you _will_ keep getting right in my personal space with your puppy-dog eyes and that…that…_hair._" She flicked her eyes up then, and felt her heart skip a beat. _Bed hair._

"Pot, kettle, black" he stated emphatically. "I could easily call you the girl who cried 'Hands!'"

"Oi!" she slapped his hand in annoyance. "You said you wanted to know. So I'm telling you. Stop interrupting."

He tilted his head to the side, making of show of pressing his lips firmly together, assuring her she had the floor.

"Anyway", she continued with a tiny, pointed glare, "I admit there was some, small desire to kiss you on more than one occasion on Messaline. Not a crime, is it?"

He shook his head.

"But none of those times were the first." She put her hands over her face then and sighed. "God, this is embarrassing."

He had to speak then. "Donna, you're here with me. I'm not going to judge you. I LOVE you. Love doesn't judge. Anyway, it couldn't have been any earlier than when I first wanted to kiss you, so stop worrying".

She said nothing, and just looked at him. She just knew that her face was as red as her hair at that moment.

It took a moment for the Doctor to register the reason for her silence.

"You mean it WAS before that?" he began, unable to keep a hint of incredulity from his tone.

Donna almost started speaking over him in her haste to disavow him of that misconception. "No, no, it wasn't. But it may as well have been".

The silence then between them echoed uncomfortably and the TARDIS, sensing the mutual distress of her two favourite people in all the cosmos, started a low, soothing hum, and Donna suddenly detected the scent of…_was that lavender?..._in the air. Inner peace restored, she resumed.

"We had just been through all that complete…madness….with the Empress of the Racnoss, and Lance, and draining the Thames and …then all of a sudden we were back in Chiswick and I was standing there looking at you making it _snow_ and I was scared of you and fascinated by you all at the same time, and God, Spaceman, you have _no _ idea…or maybe you do…" she averted her gaze momentarily, "what effect it had on me, you standing there in your tight, skinny suit, inviting me to be a part of your crazy life, I mean you invited _me, _Donna Noble…"

"Of the Chiswick-Nobles, Super-temp…" he reminded her cheekily, unable to help himself.

"Stop it," she admonished lightly before going on, "you invited me to travel with you, and when I saw that light, that hopefulness, shining in your eyes, part of me _really _wanted to go with you, damn the fear…but you were still so sad and I wanted to try to help take away your sadness…"

She didn't miss the wistfulness that fleetingly ghosted across his features, but she wasn't perturbed. Being secure in someone's love would do that to a person.

"_That_ was when I wanted to kiss you for the first time. Not _just_ a kiss to say thanks for saving me, or yay we beat the baddies, or even I-think-I-fancy-you-rotten, your-lips-are-just-begging-for-it…."

"…and believe me, they were…"

"….but an I-wanna-be-here-for-you-and make-you-smile-again kiss."

She couldn't help herself any longer then, and she leant in towards him and kissed him, taking his bottom lip gently in her teeth before moving her tongue to nudge his, exploring the contours of his mouth and teeth, revelling in how he tasted, minty, manly, molten desire. She was vaguely aware of hands coming in to play, hers sliding around his waist, under his pyjama top to smooth up his side and the hard, wiry contours of his back, his grasping her shoulder, then tangling in her hair as his lips continued to move against hers.

When she daringly moved her hand back down to smooth over a flannelette-clad buttock – eliciting a sharp intake of breath, he took the opportunity to move his hand down as well, bunching up the hem of her nightie until his fingers came into contact with a smooth silky breast. Now it was Donna's turn to momentarily stop breathing, even as she felt the _want_ pooling further down.

His finger brushed across one very taught nipple, causing her to gasp. "Doctor..I.." Whatever else she might have been going to say next was lost in a deep moan as he began to gently, erotically massage her breast.

After several….._oh, who knows how long it was, how can I be expected to keep track of time when my brain is completely lust-addled…._ he removed his hand and used it to smooth back wisps of hair from her slightly damp forehead. Donna struggled to coalesce her thoughts, to return to her previous narrative. She knew she wasn't quite finished, that there was still something important that she needed to tell him. As her nerve endings finally, _finally_ stopped tingling, she managed to regain her train of thought.

She began slowly, hesitantly. "But you see, me thinking about kissing you right back then, I think it might've messed up my decisions, because, well - _what the hell was I thinking? – _in the end, I let the fear win, I turned you down, and you disappeared out of my life. From that second on _all_ I could think about was finding you again, and kissing you once I had….". Donna thought she couldn't possibly be more exposed, more vulnerable than she was at that moment.

He just looked at her, with glassy, tear-filled eyes, and she could only imagine he was thinking the same thing she was, all that time they'd missed, all that _being together_ they'd missed. "So if that's the way you felt, why on earth did you give me all that carry-on about 'not mating with me, Sunshine!'?" he said sadly.

"Because you'd just told me you only wanted a mate. And I wanted so much to travel with you, to be with you, that I was prepared to do it on any terms, even if we could only be friends. I wasn't going to miss my chance again, not for anything. So, you know, I tried to cover up my real feelings. Didn't think you'd notice."

"I notice more than you think. And yeah, I guess I did kinda just want a mate back then, after what happened with Martha, but that whole time we were apart, I never stopped thinking about you. When I said I'd be lucky to see you again, I meant it, as much as I've ever meant anything in my life. I think telling you I wanted a mate was my way of making sure you'd say yes the second time."

"Would have saved us a whole world of trouble and time if we'd done less assuming and a lot more talking" Donna responded.

He nodded his agreement. "And a lot more kissing."

They didn't come for air for the rest of the night.


	3. What ifyou tell me

_Disclaimer: If I owned them, they woulda done it and we woulda seen it._

_Author's note: This little piece explores the first of the 'potential first kiss' scenarios revealed by the Doctor to Donna in Tell me when._

* * *

><p><strong>What if….you tell me when<strong>

_**The Runaway Bride**_

She was upset.

Admittedly, that assessment was based on a micro-second glance out of his not-so-good peripheral vision, but if nothing else, she had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since they'd escaped from the Empress of the Racnoss.

When Donna had discovered that the man she was going to marry, the man she thought loved her, had been lying to her the whole time. He'd never loved her. He didn't even like her. And he'd been planning to kill her. More than enough to get even the most stoic of brides-to-be slightly hysterical.

Yet Donna was sitting there making nary a sound, tears slipping silently down her red face, crumpled in misery.

The Doctor shifted nervously around the console, risking another glance at his travelling companion, her posture deflated, lower lip trembling.

Looking down briefly, he pondered what to do, the atmosphere inside the TARDIS becoming more uncomfortable and stifling by the second. This was _so _outside his comfort zone; he was completely rubbish at dealing with emotions, even his own, let alone someone else's.

But he had to do something. Not just to improve the atmospherics, or even because it was the "right" thing to do, at least in terms of the human morality he'd become so accustomed to through his 900-odd years of periodic flirtation with her planet and its strange, overly-sentimental inhabitants.

If he were honest, he was feeling a rather annoying sense of obligation to this brusque but spirited redhead – after all, she had literally risked her life for him, a stranger she'd met mere hours previously and barely knew from a bar of soap, which spoke of an all-too-rare bravery stemming from a heart of compassion.

That alone warranted him taking a second, deeper look.

Giving her a chance.

Doing something to make her smile. Or least distract her from the cruel events of the day.

They'd arrived at their destination, and in such a situation, there wouldn't normally be a need to have a look outside, merely a consultation of the console screen would suffice.

But Donna, right now, needed more. _Deserved _more.

So he invited her to see it for real. She accepted half-heartedly, the crushing blow of Lance's betrayal having doused her spirit, her fire almost completely.

Seeing it broke his hearts even as it fuelled his determination.

_Come over here and let me blow your mind._

When he opened the TARDIS doors with a flourish, the sheer wonder on her face did something to his hearts that he hadn't at all been expecting, and couldn't even begin to explain.

Spellbound, Donna's eyes watched the rocks of the still-amorphous Earth swirling in front of them, the light of the sun reflecting and dancing across her enraptured expression.

As he joined her at the doorway, he found, to his slight alarm, that it was not the scene outside that captured his gaze, but rather that which was standing right next to him.

This particular moment in time may have been a first for him, but he saw hardly anything of it, finding himself unable to drag his eyes from her.

Beyond excitement, beyond exuberance, beyond even speech, barely daring to breathe, lest it ruin the awestruck stupendousness of this, this sheer _craziness _of watching her own planet come into being, he experienced anew through _her_ the sheer, incredulous awesomeness of what it was that he did every day of the week, jadedness and apathy blasted out and swept away by the child-like wonder that was rolling off her in waves.

It was _incredibly_ attractive. _She_ was incredibly attractive.

They were standing close, very close, though he suspected only he was aware of that. There was protectiveness in his stance, but also pride and, strangely so early on in their relationship, a sudden and incredible sense of deep affection. He knew then and there that her arrival had been no accident, no coincidence.

The colours outside sparkled in her eyes (blue-green, beautiful) and made her gorgeous ginger hair even more vivid, gave even more warmth to her pale, creamy complexion.

_God, how he wanted to kiss her._

Not just because of the affection or the beauty or even the gratitude, but the wonder, he wanted to share the wonder, he wanted to _taste _it on her skin and tell her, wordlessly, that he was really, really glad that _this_ first time was with her.

She kept looking forward, outwards, as the rocks started to come together, coalesce into something.

Meanwhile, his eyes just looked at her, as he leaned in slowly, lips tingling, aching to press against her warm, soft cheek.

_She is going to smack you through to Sunday if those lips touch her._

_Bad timing much? I was almost there._

_Mmhmm - almost there to getting a slap round the chops._

Sighing almost imperceptibly, he knew his inner voice (or, possibly, the TARDIS) was right.

She didn't seem like the kind of woman that would take too kindly to prematurely overt displays of affection, alien or otherwise.

And so before she'd even noticed they had been so close, his lips were in retreat, his head moving back to a safe distance where he could non-committally regard proceedings.

_There'll be another chance, _he reasoned, _shouldn't have to wait too long._

_If only I'd known then how long it would be…._

_Maybe I would've risked it._

Fortunately for him, that was the longest he would ever had to go without.


	4. What if you tell me  the second time

**Disclaimer**: If I owned them, they woulda done it and we woulda seen it  
><strong>Author's note<strong>: This little piece explores the second of the 'potential first kiss' scenarios revealed by the Doctor to Donna in _Tell me when_.

**What if….you tell me when, the second time**

_**Partners in Crime**_

And they were off again, running. Running, running, running. There was an awful lot of running in his life, he realised. Good thing he liked running. Though he suspected by the grim expression on Donna's face as he ventured a quick glance behind, and the fact he already had a good few metres on her, that she didn't quite share his enthusiasm.

They had gone down the darkened corridor a few metres when he saw it and screamed to a halt, whipping out the sonic and buzzing the door open.

"Well, that's one solution. Hide in a cupboard. I like it" he heard her quip, with a faintly detectable air of disappointment in her voice.

_What's that all about then?_

He was inside the tiny room in flash, tossing out the contents without even a backward glance, frantic to find what he was looking for.

And there it was, at the back of the room. He strode over and whipped open the door. The inducer. Instrument of dastardly purpose, the potential destruction of millions of human lives.

He couldn't let it happen. Miss Foster had to be stopped. He felt the panic rising even as his brain raced, calculating at light speed how he could hack the inducer, override the program, save humanity. Donna's uncharacteristic silence alerted him to the fact he had slipped into techno-babble, so he decided to provide some more straightforward commentary to break the tension.

"She's wired up the whole building. We need a bit of privacy." He improvised with a pair of spark plugs to put the guards out of commission.

At Donna's appalled look, he scrambled to explain: "Just enough to stop them." _Why do I feel the need to justify myself to her? Like I need her approval?_

_Or don't want to disappoint her. Want her to like me._

Shrugging himself out of _that _strange, unbidden thought and back to the matter at hand, his alarm amplifying as the computer voice announced the inducer had gone online.

And it was _then_ that she chose to speak.

"You look older".

_Millions of lives on the line, not a second to waste and she suddenly wants to talk about my personal life?_

"Thanks."

"Still on your own?"

"Yup." A micro-pause. "Well, no, I had this friend, Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant…and I destroyed half her life. But she's fine. She's good. She's gone." _Why am I even telling her all this?_

"What about Rose?"

_No. NO. So don't want to talk about THAT right now. _"Still lost." He swallowed and swiftly changed the subject. "I thought you were going to travel the world."

It worked. Suitably side-tracked, she proceeded to tell him about what she had done during their time apart. He was only half listening though, the majority of his attention still desperately focussed on trying to figure out a way to prevent an impending mass liquification disaster.

"….I must have been mad turning down that offer."

"What offer?"

"To come with you."

"You'd come with me?"

He realised he should have phrased that last question better when she immediately responded: "Oh yes, please!" a little too enthusiastically for his liking.

"Right."

The computer voice intruded to remind him again of the imminent danger to a large swathe of London's population.

She spoke once more. Fortunately, more on topic. "What's it doing now?"

"She's started the program."

He continued to talk as if somehow the sound of his own voice could calm him, and abate the growing fear that he wouldn't be able to save them all.

"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron has gone up to emergency pathogenesis"

He heard his own fear echoed in Donna's voice. "That's when they convert…."

"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are gonna die! Gotta cancel the signal!"

He whipped the golden capsule out of his pocket and held it up to Donna for a look, continuing his commentary as if it were some bizarre mix of science lecture and reality TV show. Except that the reality if he failed this time was too awful to contemplate.

"This contains the primary signal. If I can switch it off the fat goes back to being just fat." He hooked the capsule up to the machine, praying that it would work. And felt his hearts drop through the floor as the computer tonelessly announced that Miss Foster had increased the inducer's strength.

"No no no no no, she's doubled it, I need…Haven't got time" It's too far, I can't override it! They're all gonna die!" He couldn't hold back the desperate despair in his voice as his words frantically tripped, tumbled and crashed into each other.

"Is there anything I can do?" he heard Donna say in the midst of his panic.

"Sorry Donna, this is way beyond you! Gotta double the base pulse, I can't…"

She spoke again, more firmly, as if insulted at his dismissiveness. "Doctor, tell me what do you need?"

_Hardly the time to argue the point, Donna! _He thought in exasperation. _Like a dog with a bone. Still, there's something to be said for tenacity. Even if there's nothing she can do. Might as well humour her._

Eyes remaining fixed on the inducer, the switches, the lights, as if he hoped he could will them to tell him a way through all of it he told her, finally: "I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only go the one. I can't save them!"

And that was when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, a brief flash of something small and metallic. He turned to see Donna beaming as she held up another gold capsule, a tiny, shiny saviour.

_Providence! Coincidence!_

Even as he thought it, he knew it was much more than that, though. Deeper, more powerful, more significant.

Destiny.

Back together, partners in crime, to save the world.

Save each other.

He looked at her then for what was only a second, but seemed like an eternity, , blown away by the sheer fortuity and unlikeliness of it all. Again, she had stuck with him, through the danger, the flurry, the sheer _weirdness_, and had hardly batted an eyelid. She had been brave and stubborn and persistent in finding a way to help him do what needed to be done. And she had come through, with exactly what he had been missing, what he had been looking for, at precisely the right time.

He realised at that moment he was not just referring to the gold capsule, either.

The sparkle in her eyes that he saw now, that came from knowing she had been useful, needed, that he had needed _her_ and that together they had done something wonderful, saved so many…that glow, that light, was just so, so breathtakingly beautiful. It made the abundant life in her burn even more brightly than it had the first time they'd met, when he'd already fallen just a little bit in love with her.

He realised with a start (and not a little guilt) that he'd spent practically the whole time with Martha not just trying to forget Rose, but trying to forget Donna and that spark, that zest for life, her inherent brilliance that she didn't even know she had.

He thought he'd managed to do it, but with that one little triumphant flourish of a gift-with-purchase gold necklace, she'd undone him and he was right back where he'd found himself at the creation of the earth, standing at the doorway of the TARDIS with her, so close, so close…..

He wanted to kiss her then. Again. He'd missed his chance back then, he'd waited all this time for another chance, and _here it was_.

Here it was and there was just no time.

_Why does this always happen? Why is my timing always so off?_

So once again he hid his desire deep, deep down, and looked at her with incredulity, shock, and finally delighted relief. Then they both burst out laughing and he took the capsule from her, plugged it in to the transducer and watched its green lights die. Along with their moment.

But not his fervent hope that they would have another one.

And soon.


End file.
